Monday, August 18, 2014

President Obama has long ridiculed the idea that the U.S., early in the
Syrian civil war, could have shaped the forces fighting the Assad
regime, thereby stopping al Qaeda-inspired groups—like the one rampaging
across Syria and Iraq today—from seizing control of the rebellion.....

While there's much to admire about Hillary
Clinton, she made several statements in her recent interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in The
Atlantic that worry me.

“The failure to help
build up a credible fighting force of the people who were the
originators of the protests against Assad—there were Islamists, there
were secularists, there was everything in the middle—the failure to do
that left a big vacuum, which the jihadists have now filled,” Clinton
said.

I remember my doubts about the suggestion to arm "vetted rebels" in Syria. What could possibly go wrong?

As I see it, Clinton is not wise to so quickly distance herself from
President Obama. As you may recall, Al Gore hardly, if ever, mentioned
President Clinton during his campaign to succeed him, nor did he allow
Bill Clinton to campaign on his behalf, even in carefully chosen
locations where Clinton was quite popular. Still, the president was
always the ghost on the stage of every campaign event. I've always
believed that Al Gore would have won by a large and indisputable margin,
had he not run such a poor campaign and had he not so obviously run
away from Bill Clinton. Hillary Clinton ought perhaps to take a lesson.

Of course, Clinton had many kind words for the “incredibly intelligent”
and “thoughtful” Obama, and she expressed sympathy and understanding for
the devilishly complicated challenges he faces. But she also suggested
that she finds his approach to foreign policy overly cautious, and she
made the case that America needs a leader who believes that the country,
despite its various missteps, is an indispensable force for good.

How's that for damning with faint praise? Au contraire, Madame Secretary, the president is wise to step away from the fantasy of American exceptionalism in which we bear the burden of setting the world to rights, as we see the right. Also, for a Democratic would-be candidate to criticize the Democratic president in these difficult and tumultuous times seems disloyal. I realize that she will inevitably differentiate her policies from those of the president, but she seems to be making serious mistakes in her statements in the interview.

If Clinton is the candidate, I believe she could lose the election by taking the
anti-Obama track. She cannot win without an
enthusiastic turnout by African-American voters, and Obama still retains a fair amount of support among Democrats of all colors. She appears
opportunistic, and, even worse, ruthless in her ambition.

Clinton takes a harder line against Iran than Obama, but negotiations require some wiggle room unless one's position is, "My way or the highway."

HRC: I’ve always been in the camp that held that they did not have a right to
enrichment. Contrary to their claim, there is no such thing as a right
to enrich. This is absolutely unfounded. There is no such right. I am
well aware that I am not at the negotiating table anymore, but I think
it’s important to send a signal to everybody who is there that there
cannot be a deal unless there is a clear set of restrictions on Iran.
The preference would be no enrichment. The potential fallback position
would be such little enrichment that they could not break out. So,
little or no enrichment has always been my position.

Not much wiggle room there.

Clinton's seemingly unreserved support for the policies of the present Israeli government is worrisome, too.

Much of my conversation with Clinton focused on the Gaza war. She
offered a vociferous defense of Israel, and of its prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, as well. This is noteworthy because, as secretary of
state, she spent a lot of time yelling at Netanyahu on the
administration's behalf over Israel’s West Bank settlement policy. Now,
she is leaving no daylight at all between the Israelis and herself.

“I think Israel did what it had to do to respond to the rockets,” she
told me. “Israel has a right to defend itself. The steps Hamas has
taken to embed rockets and command-and-control facilities and tunnel
entrances in civilian areas, this makes a response by Israel difficult.”

While it's true there is wrong on both sides, Israel's response seems disproportionate, as is indicated by a comparison of the numbers of Palestinians and Israelis killed and wounded. Also, if the Israeli government truly wants peace, perhaps the leaders might consider a bold, unilateral, admittedly risky move to lift the blockade of Gaza, remove the checkpoints which make travel so difficult for the Palestinians, and stop the spread of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. So long as Israel's neighbors in Gaza live in miserable conditions, Israel will not have peace.

Note: To disagree with the present policies of the Israeli leadership does not make me antisemitic any more than disagreement with the policies of my own government makes me un-American.

If the interview is Clinton's pre-season launch of her candidacy for the presidency, and I think it is, then she's made several missteps, and, I hope she sets herself aright. I don't think any candidate, except in certain circumstances, a sitting president, is entitled to anointment as the chosen candidate for a political party, but I fear the stage is being set for anointing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate. I hope other prominent Democrats in the party rise to challenge Clinton, so we have a real contest and open discussions of various policies for moving the country forward and winning the election in 2016.

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BLOGGERS' PRAYER

"Almighty God, you proclaim your truth in every age by many voices: Direct, in our time, we pray, those who speak where many listen and write what many read; that they may do their part in making the heart of this people wise, its mind sound, and its will righteous; to the honor of Jesus Christ our Lord."Book of Common Prayer

GOD'S PRESENCE

"O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to continue in Thy presence; and to this end do Thou prosper me with Thy assistance, receive all my works, and possess all my affections."Brother Lawrence

LADY ENTHRONED

Luiz Coelho, Jr.

“Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless.”Óscar Romero

"How can you initiate someone and then treat them like a half-assed baptized?"The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant."Martin Luther King

"Silence is the voice of complicity."Fr. Roy Bourgeois

"There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odor of mendacity...You can smell it. It smells like death."Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams', Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

THE AFTERLIFE

“So, is there an afterlife, and if so, what will it be like? I don't have a clue. But I am confident that the one who has buoyed us up in life will also buoy us up through death. We die into God. What more that means, I do not know. But that is all I need to know.” Marcus Borg - Speaking Christian: Why Christian Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power

"Sì. Mi chiamano Mimì."

June Butler - email

wb73gm at gmail dot com

On occasion, Wounded Bird, indulges in irony.

"I hope that I never ridicule what is wise or good. Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."Elizabeth Bennet, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen